Newspaper in Compost?

Does anyone add newspaper to their compost? I've heard that suggestion from a couple of sources but I'm not sure if it's still good advice considering all the dyes that are used nowadays.

I think a lot of newspapers have gone to vegetable-based dyes because of concerns about leaching lead-based dyes into groundwater (not necessarily composting, but in landfills.)

Your newspaper can tell you what they use if you call them or check their website. I wouldn't compost the slick/glossy supplements and fliers.

If you find out that your newsprint is okay to use, consider it as a carbon source and balance it with "green" type stuff proportionally. Also, wad it up or tear in pieces so it will decompose readily....needs contact with air and moisture.

Thanks for the great advice. I'll check with the company next week to find out what kind of dye they use. If safe, I'll be sure to tear it up. I'm still trying to learn the different types of stuff I need to add for a good balance. Any other advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Margaret

I use newspaper as a weed block...turn it under in the fall. Adds to the soil's tilth over the years. (especially if you have clay)

That's a good idea Melody. We bought a roll of weed block to put between the rows but we've been really disappointed with it. Maybe we should put newspaper underneath. We have very sandy soil here in Florida. Margaret

Use at least 8 layers and lap it over by at least 8 inches...wet down good and lay a layer of straw over it.

veggiemom. .

Green material (nitrogen) can include lawn clippings, wilted flowers, green prunings, grass or weeds that have not gone to seed, alfalfa, clover, fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds. (Manure from non-meat eating animals is good source of nitrogen, but watch salt content in some.)

Brown material (carbon) can include dried leaves, shredded wood (i.e. prunings), newspaper and cardboard (both shredded or cut up), dryer lint.

Use equal parts of green and brown materials for ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30:1.

No meat or animal by-product, dog or cat waste, grease, weeds with seeds or jointed grasses, i.e. Bermuda or Johnson grass. stove or fireplace ashes.

This is a good basic compost list. . . others may have more suggestions. Hope it helps.

Thanks Jcangemi, that's really helpful. I didn't know dryer lint can be used, I have lots of that! I'd like to get some manure to add, but don't know where to go. If anyone in the Orlando, FL area knows of a farm, etc that I could contact, let me know. Margaret

There are a lot of Horse farms here, but Horse Manure needs to be covered or well composted as it is full of weed seed. -- also some of it has grass hay used for bedding mixed with it and some has wood shavings, the manure mixed with wood shavings is acidic, and needs to have the PH adjusted some. but here the manure is free. You are an hour and 1/2 south of me but horses are down there also ,so look in the phone book under Stables and see who you can call---good luck, -- Michael

Margaret. . a couple of things I forgot . . the smaller the pieces of prunings are, e.g. wood shavings, etc. (hard, woody materials), the quicker they break down. Turning it regularly also hastens the process. It's not a necessity to do either, just depends on how quick you want it and if you want large pieces of composted material in the end (which can be sifted out if you want to recycle them through your pile.) If you've got the room, you can just pile it up and leave it until it turns to compost. . LOL

Very good points about horse manure Michaelp. You also don't want to put too much manure in your pile.

Michael, thanks for the advice about looking in the yellow pages. I didn't even think of that!

Jcangemi, we have a chipper/shredder that we could use to chop up the stuff, but things do decompose pretty quickly here in FL with the heat and humidity. I'm working my way up to a full-fledged veggie garden that I hope will produce most of the year so I'm needing a lot more compost and speed is also more important to me now. Margaret

Margaret. . .that's great. . .a chipper/shredder will really speed things up. . .especially if you turn it several times. . .you can have 'black gold' in a matter of weeks. . .and your plants are really going to love it. . .I use alot of compost and even did an experiment with 100% compost compared to 50%compost/dirt and 100% dirt. . .it was no contest on growth and production of the 100% and even the 50% compost bed did great! Even the weeds grew 100% better LOL, but they were easy to pull out as the compost was very friable. The peppers in the foreground were in the dirt and the ones way in the back of the pic are 100 % compost. They just kept producing and producing and the size and health of the plants was far superior to those in the dirt. I got a big mess of peppers off of those plants in the compost on December 9. They only stopped then because a hard frost hit and finally did them in right after that. I knew I loved compost, but it just drove the point home more.

Great picture Jcangemi! What a difference with the compost. I had wondered if you could plant in stictly compost, but your picture shows it's better. What about starting seeds in compost? Margaret

Margaret . . . The part of that picture that was already finished, was zucchini, which I seeded in all three areas of that bed. As with the peppers, the zucchini went crazy in the 100% area and almost as big in the 50/50 area. That's not to say that zucchini won't grow like crazy even in 100% dirt, LOL. But, you could definitely see the difference in this experiment. I don't use it in the greenhouse for seed starting, but rather a sterile potting mix. ;-D Janet

I use black and white newspaper as much in my veggie garden. I also shred black and white only newspaper and black ink on white paper letters, receipts, etc. put these in the compost and they break down well and quickly. Good luck. Lolagarden

veggiemom~
when looking in the yellow pages, look for goat farms. I have read here on DG that goat manure is as good as rabbit manure, very gentle and not too hot, and no seeds... just by word of mouth, I have found four in my area that have agreed for me to pick up all I want...

veggiemom - Here in Ft. Myers, the circus company offers free manure when they come to town.. .I've never had the nerve to get elephant manure etc. but it is free and I've heard it's great. Also, paper towel are okay, especially the ones without ink on them. Coffee grounds are the best for earthworms!

Thanks Morganmom. The circus was just here a couple of weeks ago. I've never really considered elephant manure. Paper towels are a good idea also and I always buy plain ones anyway. I do add my coffee and tea to the compost. Are you coming to the South Florida RU on February 19th? Margaret